Kensuke "The Spy"

[Sharaz Destler]

This is pretty much what I thought from the beginning. Kensuke had simply been hacking into his father's files, who's at a position to know such information. His father's position can be speculated endlessly, but regardless, Kensuke strikes me as the type who will go any length to uncover the truth of something.

A bit like Kaji in that sense. Though if anyone stood a chance of getting the truth out, it'd be Kensuke, because no-one can really "put him out of the way" without causing an even bigger mess.

[planet news]

Yeah, no one gets mad at the kids. Even if they nearly get EVA incapacitated.

[Grimmjow]

I wonder if it is possible if Kensuke is the true evil genius behind it all. Perhaps he trained the JSSDF and ordered the assault on Nerv. He was a military otaku after alll.....

I can always dream and write fanfiction.

And referring to the OP, Kensuke has always known a little bit more than everyone else. A little curiosity and psychological stability can go a long way.

[unrealking]

I always thought kensuke's need to under uncover the truth is what kept him form being an eva pilot.

Unlike the other pilots I see kensuke hacking random terminals trying to figure out what the evas are due to military otaku personality.

[Lui]

I think Kensuke really is just a nosy teenager with computer knowledge and his dad's password. On the subject of his father, I think he is related to one of the operations level personnel, i.e. someone who has some sort of role directly connected to the Eva and their battles.

However, saying that he's a spy or managed to hack Nerv without being noticed is like saying Gendo is the father of everyone in class 2A - there's 'proof' to say that it's true, but most of said proof comes from fans thinking too hard.

[Meghan]

Two important notes.

1.) Kensuke's profile description in Volume #5 and #6 of the manga states: "A devoted fan of military affairs, Aida plays war games in Army costume out in the country, habitually carries a Sony camcorder to capture shots of hardware or combat and engages in computer hacking to acquire information for his mania."
Note the section that reads, "to acquire information for his mania". This alone convinces me that Kensuke has no ulterior motives but that doesn't eliminate the possibility completely.

2.) Regarding Kensuke's Dad and his occupation, page 61 of Volume 6 sites Kensuke as saying, "Big mess over at my Dad's section. Unit 04 exploded - blew the entire Nevada branch away."
With this information, I have begun to consider that Kensuke's Dad perhaps works in the Foreign Relations department at Nerv Headquarters or is possibly a part of the branch responsible for the experiment with the S2 engine.

[carla]

what is this-- surely it's not...? i don't even-- a thread about kensuke? surely you jest.

...yay! i approve.

anyway, topic now. personally, i always assumed kensuke had different sources-- as in, it started with his father perhaps unadvertedly leaving his laptop unlocked or something (in my personal canon, kensuke's dad is really, absent-minded), and then in the annual nerv company picnic which of course Shinji wasn't invited to he got to talking to some of his father's colleagues, who thought he was quite the smart guy and ended up humoring/telling him a bit too much whenever he asked an interesting question. and he knew just the right questions to ask, too. or he probably picked up bits of NERV employee's conversations while he was hanging around them ("did you hear the rumor that...").

as for kensuke's dad-- barring the idea that he's actually the son of fuyutsuki-sensei and a really hot, 30-something gaijin (farfetched, i know, but it would totally make my life)-- i always thought he must've worked in NERV logistics somehow? a lot of the time kensuke seemed to know where the evas would be or which platform they'd launch from (episode 3 and... 6?), or where activation tests would take place (unit 03), or just events that required planning or transport somehow. i don't think his dad was THAT high up the ladder of command; kensuke was just resourceful.

as for whether it was his curiosity that lost him the pilot spot, it might have had to do with it, i guess. but i always thought it was more about how the kids related to their mother. kensuke might see piloting an evangelion as the ultimate form of nirvana, but barely remember his mom. liking EVA is no guarantee that he'll be able to sync properly with with it. maybe touji was closer to his mother and, of course, they had leverage on him in the form of his sister's health care.

and anyways, doesn't the choice of pilot depend on whose soul is in the EVA? if it was touji's mom in eva-03, it must've been there for a long while. therefore, it could only be touji.

for what it's worth, as much as i like kensuke, i don't think the unit-03 debacle would've been any better if he'd been the pilot anyway. i prefer him over touji, but i think the irony was greater with kensuke not getting chosen-- and touji piloting was much more dramatic because it was doing something he didn't want to do, but did it anyway, just to protect his little sister. however, i do think kensuke could've figured out the plot behind class 2-A on his own, if he didn't already. i just wish they had actually shown us that. it could've been awesome.

[Meghan]

Yeah, no one gets mad at the kids. Even if they nearly get EVA incapacitated.

I am now going to refer to being incapacitated by an Eva as "eva-pacitated" because it sounds freakin' AMAZING!

[The Fourth Evangelion]

[quote="Fazmotron#344408"]Kensuke is obviously Hyuga's son.
[quote]

Hahaha, like that poor bastard would be able to get one...

Besides, Kensuke's daddy worked in the Info dept, if I'm not mistaken.

Nice try though....

[Mr. Jive]

...again, how is this even a remote possibility? I can't imagine a circumstance in which Kensuke would be permitted to even look at the commander without some nameless grunt helping him bend his knees the wrong way.

I for once can see gendo taken a likeness into kensuke due to him being everything he wish Shinji would be. Kensuke is a maverick like gendo was when he was young. While Shinji is a spolie brat that had things hand to him on a silver platter.


Kensuke has a mind of a solider who knows all about his area, allies and enemies Just in case he needs that info later on. He's the only kid that can survile in a post 3I world whiteout anyone holding his hand unlike someone else. By the way as anyone stop to think that kensuke dad maybe a spy from Seele?

[pwhodges]

Shinji is a spolie brat that had things hand to him on a silver platter.

I'm seriously failing to see this silver platter...

Kensuke has a mind of a solider who knows all about his area, allies and enemies Just in case...

That mind nearly got him and Touji killed as early as episode 3.

[Kendrix]

He's better with computers than his old dad. That is enough.
May be one of these families where the parents go to the kids for the IT questions.

As for episode 4/the orphan status thing, maybe he just connected the dots from the fact that no one in their class seems to have a full set of parents, and assumed the same is true for Shinji.

We recently had some ample/in-depht discussion about Kensuke here, might be worth checking out to someone. I don't feel like repeating some of the longer comments I left there.

Fitting, if one takes into account the social criticism aspect

Not really. Kensuke may be a nerd, but he's not a recluse.

Unlike the other pilots I see kensuke hacking random terminals trying to figure out what the evas are due to military otaku personality.

Nah. There's a difference between you father's home PC and NERV's organic supertech. I doubt a 14 year old could hack that.

2.) Regarding Kensuke's Dad and his occupation, page 61 of Volume 6 sites Kensuke as saying, [i]"Big mess over at my Dad's section.

He says this in the anime, too. I assumed this meant his dad was some PR guy tasked with explaining away the explosion.

I for once can see gendo taken a likeness into kensukue

Hm. Kind of like Jean and Captain Nemo got along a lot better than the latter and Nadia (his actual daughter) and had these philosophic conversations about the meaning of tech?
Not sure if it works, Gendo's much less of a believer in humanity, and thus less willing to assume a 'teacher' like part. I don't think he has that in him.

Still, looking at Jean might be the place to start to craft a long-term character arc for Kensuke. I can imagine some of those conversations happening between him and Shinji, about the pros and cons of impressive killer tech (Jean's outlook doesnt change so much, but certainly matures a bit over the story) or their ideas/attitudes toward "growing up". Just with the latter more uncertain and resignated instead of Nadia's vindictive angrynness.


I don't think willingness necessarily translates into capability or fearlessness. HE's still a year old kid wih the limitations thereof. He's not immune to some daunting, and liable to do foolish teenager stuff.

That said, I don't think it would end in a 'careful what you wish for' scenario either. More like Kensuke gladly accepting a heroic death when it comes his way in the shape of an angel laser - or at least trying to act like this.
His last words would probably be something that horribly traumatizes Shinji and other bystanders like:

a) "I'm still glad I at least go to pilot."

b) "No fair, Even though I got selected, I still didn't get to do much... "

e) "I guess I'm still not as special as you..."

[ElMariachi]

^
You know, your depiction of Kensuke sounds a lot like Mari!

[Kendrix]

^
You know, your depiction of Kensuke sounds a lo like Mari!

Not really. Just slightly.
Kensuke probably can negotionate a bunch of people a lot better, and I don't think Mari ever wants things that desperately, she's too 'disconnected' for that.

But she's got the advantage of being an adrenaline junkie and having good instincts almost on par with Shinji's and without some of his less suitable personality traits. Her particular type of atypical wiring happens to be suitable for being an EVA pilot/ living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Kensuke's responses to actual life and death situations in ep 3 were more or less normal, he was just as panicked/frozen at Touji when that EVA came flying their way.

He's in it for the adventure factor, Mari for the adrenaline kick, (and the factor of "being able to do at least one thing that matters/they can do well" that is moe or less common to all pilots) those are slightly different things.
Mari would probably call it a good day even if she nearly gets killed and only peripherally contributes to the sucess of the mission.


But something neither of them had influence over is that Mari was born in a situation where she'd have acess to better intel, presumably through her mom/ mystery barette woman, although we don't know details here. Mrs. Makinmi may have left a journal with the explicit purpose of informing Mari (in contrast to Yui and Gendo keeping their son in the dark about everything), or Mari may have dug it up herself.

Asuka's nickname implies that some sort of connections were involved, as far as she has been able to tell, and she's probably come the closest to Mari out of anyone in the cast.

[ElMariachi]

I was just referring to the tendency to have philosophic conversation (more like giving very grounded to reality philosophic advices to Shinji actually) and the nonchalant last words just before being pulverized, "I'm still glad I at least go to pilot." or "No fair, Even though I got selected(for this mission), I still didn't get to do much..." is something I could perfectly picture her saying with her last breath, that or a primal scream just before self-destructing her Eva!

In short, that was an humorous answer, don't take it too seriously!

[BC Baron]

As for episode 4/the orphan status thing, maybe he just connected the dots from the fact that no one in their class seems to have a full set of parents, and assumed the same is true for Shinji.

I didn't get a chance to peruse all of the comments, so maybe someone else already suggested this possibility. In any case IIRC Shinji had spent the night as Kensuke's guest, camping out together in that tent, sharing some food, etc. Although it's not explicitly shown, I got the impression that they had spent much of that time talking about stuff like the reasons behind the altercation with Touji, and the events that took place before, after and during the Shamshel fight. I don't think it's too far fetched to think that at a certain point in the conversation, Shinji might have felt comfortable enough with Kensuke to share his version of the story of his mother's death and subsequent paternal abandonment.

[Kendrix]

^I don't think there was much more talking than what we see.

There's very little spilling of hearts in that show, and Shinji barely even grasps enough of what happened to tell someone a finalized version with all the weights and faults and implications placed.
In some ways, he blames Gendo, but he also really, really wants to believe that maybe he's secretly an OK person whose favour he can earn.
It's a bit of a loyalty conflict in there: He ought to stick with his mom over her supposed 'murderer', but the latter is the only family he has left in the world, and he's so very, very alone, and he can't connect any real memories or associations with either of them.

Shinji also seems pretty surprised there, like he didn't expect Kensuke to know that.

[BC Baron]

^ I'm not so sure about that. By the end of the episode both Touji and Kensuke meet Shinji at the train station to say goodbye. Shinji accepts Touji's apology and even reciprocates the punch to the face at his request. Just before Misato shows up Shinji even further spills his guts to them about how he feels. Suddenly they're all friends and for the rest of the series they're officially known as the Three Stooges.

Maybe it's just me, but that seems like an awful lot of male bonding and I always felt like Kensuke was largely responsible for facilitating it. IMO he's a much cooler guy than people ever gave him credit for.

I'm not trying to suggest that Shinji revealed to Kensuke that Yui's soul resides within Unit-01. I don't think he realized that until much later on (if ever). I simply think that the subject of Misato (and how Shinji was so lucky to live with such a babe, as Touji put it) probably came up in the conversation more than once and Shinji might have started to feel comfortable enough with Kensuke to explain why he was currently living under her roof, or more accurately, why at that particular moment, he didn't really feel like staying with her. It was all tied together with the fallout from the Shamshel battle, for which Shinji knows Kensuke practically had a front row seat in Unit-01's entry plug, so there's not much point in trying to lie about it.

Along with providing the details that this Major Katsuragi person was now not only his commanding officer at NERV, but also recently took over the role as his guardian, Shinji might have mentioned in passing that, as near as he could recall, his mother died when he was very young and his father then appointed some "teacher" to take care of him for the next several years before transferring to Tokyo III. Unlike Asuka, I don't think Shinji ever treated these elements of his past or the dysfunctional nature of his relationship with his father as though they were secrets to be guarded/buried.

Perhaps the surprised look on Shinji's face might've been because after chatting with his gracious host for several hours, he only just realized at that very moment that Kensuke had also endured some family tragedy in his past, as well.

Either that or maybe the very act of hearing someone with such unbridled extroverted otaku enthusiasm compare himself to an introspective, reserved, occasionally depressed guy like Shinji by remarking, "I'm just like you" might have carried a fair amount of shock value.